Menzies' Journal. 



Admiralty Inlet. 47 



of its Bill, & as it appeard to be a new species I named it 

 Alca Rhinoceros & describd it. (\''ide fig:) 



/ We cannot quit Admiralty Inlet without observing 

 that its beautiful Canals & wandering navigable branches 

 traverse through a low fiat Country upwards of 20 leagues 

 to the Southward of its entrance & 8 or 9 leagues to the 

 Eastward & to the North East, thus diffusing utility & 

 ornament to a rich Country by affording a commodious 

 & ready communication through every part of it, to the 

 termination of the most distant branches. Its short dis- 

 tance from the Ocean which is not above 26 leagues, & easy 

 access by the streights of Juan de Fuca is likewise much 

 in its favour should its fertile banks be hereafter settled by 

 any civilized nation. Its shores are for the most part sandy 

 intermixed with pebbles & a variety of small silicious stones 

 abounding with Iron Ore in various forms, for we hardly 

 met with a Rock or Stone that was not evidently less or 

 more impregnated with this usefull Metal which the benev- 

 olent hand of Nature has so liberaly dispersed throughout 

 almost every part of the world but perhaps no where so 

 apparently abundant as along the Shores of this great Inlet. 



At the angular windings of these Canals we generely 

 found low flat points evidently formed by the deposits of 

 the Tides & Currents embanking them round by a high 

 beach, behind which were frequently seen ponds of Salt 

 Water that at first no less astonishd our curiosity con- 

 cerning their formation than baulked our hopes when we 

 approachd them either to quench our thirst or fill our Water 

 Cags. Many of these ponds were at the distance of some 

 hundred yards from the Sea Side & appeard to us to have 

 no other means of communication or supply than that of 

 oozing through the beach & loose gravely soil which com- 

 posed the Point. 



The general appearance of the Country from this 

 station was as follows. To the South West of us a high 

 ridge of Mountains ran from the outer point of de Fuca's 

 entrance in a South East direction, — gradualy increasing 

 in height to form the rugged elevated peaks of Mount 

 Olympus in Latitude 47° 48' N / & Longitude 236° 30' East 

 & afterwards diminishing suddenly & ending a little beyond 

 the termination of the first long arm we examined. 



1T92. 

 June 6tb. 



